Deposited Collections Toolkit

Introduction 

The primary audience for this toolkit is archive practitioners, archive services and their parent organisations in the United Kingdom. It aims to provide guidance and resources to support them in managing deposited collections. It will help address sector-wide challenges relating to ownership, access and risk, while promoting consistent, ethical and sustainable practice. A secondary audience is depositors, and private organisations and individuals who hold archive collections and are considering depositing or donating them to an archive service. 

Archives are collections of materials (including documents, papers, books, electronic files, records, films, objects) that are deemed historically, culturally or socially important. In the archives sector, the term ‘deposited’ can have different meanings. For the purposes of this toolkit, our definition of deposited collection is outlined below. Statutory deposit, where archive collections are placed with an archive service in accordance with legislation (e.g. Public Records Acts), is not covered by this toolkit. 

Definition of deposited collections 

“Archive collections placed with an archive service (deposited) for preservation and access, but not transferred as a gift, donation or purchase. Legal ownership remains with the depositor (usually a private organisation such as a business, charity, community group or individual/family) rather than passing permanently to the archive service. The conditions of the deposit are normally set out in a deposit (or loan) agreement. They are also sometimes referred to as ‘long-term loans’.” 

*In the toolkit, we use the word ‘deposited’ or ‘deposit’. However, we recognise that for some archive services, this can also mean both donating and depositing. See the Appendix for an explanation of the legal terms for property ownership and deposit, which can be useful when working with legal advisers. 

 

This toolkit is divided into six sections: 

  • Benefits and risks explains the advantages and disadvantages of deposited collections and provides advice on communicating your approach to potential depositors. 
  • Pre-deposit emphasises the importance of clear and open communication with potential depositors, offers guidance on agreements and how to start developing ethical and equitable partnerships.  
  • During deposit outlines the essential information to record at the time of deposit and ways to involve depositors in the process.  
  • Post deposit provides advice on maintaining relationships with depositors and building ethical and equitable partnerships. 
  • Abandoned deposits provides guidance on managing deposits where the depositor or owner cannot be traced.  
  • Withdrawals offers guidance on how to respond to withdrawals of deposited collections from depositors. 

You can dip in and out of each section or go straight to the links to other resources and the templates.  

The toolkit was created for the Scottish Council on Archives (SCA) by Kevin Bolton, Larysa Bolton and Rachel Bolton of Kazky in collaboration with the SCA’s Deposited Collections Working Group. The project was supported with a grant from the Archives and Records Association (UK and Ireland) Research, Development and Advocacy Fund.  

This toolkit should not be considered legal advice. For guidance on specific legal matters, please consult a qualified legal adviser.